Coherence of multiscale features for enhancement of digitalmammograms

Mammograms depict most of the significant changes in breast disease. The primary radiographic signs of cancer are related to tumor mass, density, size, borders, and shape, and local distribution of calcifications. We show that each of these features can be well described by coherence and orientation measures and provide visual cues for radiologists to identify possible lesions more easily without increasing false positives. In this paper, an artifact-free enhancement algorithm based on overcomplete multiscale representations is presented. First, an image was decomposed using a fast wavelet transform algorithm. At each level of analysis, energy and phase information are computed via a set of separable steerable filters. Then, a measure of coherence within each level was obtained by weighting an energy measure with the ratio of projections of local energy within a specified window. Each projection was computed onto the central point of a window with respect to the total energy within that window. Finally, a nonlinear operation, integrating coherence and orientation information, was applied to modify transform coefficients within distinct levels of analysis. These modified coefficients were then reconstructed, via an inverse fast wavelet transform, resulting in an improved visualization of significant mammographic features. The novelty of this algorithm lies in the detection of directional multiscale features and the removal of aliased perturbations     

Nonlinear scale-space filtering and multiresolution system

We derive and demonstrate a nonlinear scale-space filter and its application in generating a nonlinear multiresolution system. For each datum in a signal, a neighborhood of weighted data is used for clustering. The cluster center becomes the filter output. The filter is governed by a single scale parameter that dictates the spatial extent of nearby data used for clustering. This, together with the local characteristic of the signal, determines the scale parameter in the output space, which dictates the influences of these data on the output. This filter is thus adaptive and data driven. It provides a mechanism for (a) removing impulsive noise, (b) improved smoothing of nonimpulsive noise, and (c) preserving edges. Comparisons with Gaussian scale-space filtering and median filters are made using real images. Using the architecture of the Laplacian pyramid and this nonlinear filter for interpolation, we construct a nonlinear multiresolution system that has two features: (1) edges are well preserved at low resolutions, and (2) difference signals are small and spatially localized. This filter implicitly presents a new mechanism for detecting discontinuities differing from techniques based on local gradients and line processes. This work shows that scale-space filtering, nonlinear filtering, and scale-space clustering are closely related and provides a framework within which further image processing, image coding, and computer vision problems can be investigated.     

Speckle reduction and contrast enhancement of echocardiograms viamultiscale nonlinear processing

This paper presents an algorithm for speckle reduction and contrast enhancement of echocardiographic images. Within a framework of multiscale wavelet analysis, the authors apply wavelet shrinkage techniques to eliminate noise while preserving the sharpness of salient features. In addition, nonlinear processing of feature energy is carried out to enhance contrast within local structures and along object boundaries. The authors show that the algorithm is capable of not only reducing speckle, but also enhancing features of diagnostic importance, such as myocardial walls in two-dimensional echocardiograms obtained from the parasternal short-axis view. Shrinkage of wavelet coefficients via soft thresholding within finer levels of scale is carried out on coefficients of logarithmically transformed echocardiograms. Enhancement of echocardiographic features is accomplished via nonlinear stretching followed by hard thresholding of wavelet coefficients within selected (midrange) spatial-frequency levels of analysis. The authors formulate the denoising and enhancement problem, introduce a class of dyadic wavelets, and describe their implementation of a dyadic wavelet transform. Their approach for speckle reduction and contrast enhancement was shown to be less affected by pseudo-Gibbs phenomena. The authors show experimentally that this technique produced superior results both qualitatively and quantitatively when compared to results obtained from existing denoising methods alone. A study using a database of clinical echocardiographic images suggests that such denoising and enhancement may improve the overall consistency of expert observers to manually defined borders     

Adaptive Nonseparable Wavelet Transform via Lifting and its Application to Content-Based Image Retrieval

We present in this paper a novel way to adapt a multidimensional wavelet filter bank, based on the nonseparable lifting scheme framework, to any specific problem. It allows the design of filter banks with a desired number of degrees of freedom, while controlling the number of vanishing moments of the primal wavelet (mathtilde N? moments) and of the dual wavelet ( N? moments). The prediction and update filters, in the lifting scheme based filter banks, are defined as Neville filters of order mathtilde N? and N? , respectively. However, in order to introduce some degrees of freedom in the design, these filters are not defined as the simplest Neville filters. The proposed method is convenient: the same algorithm is used whatever the dimensionality of the signal, and whatever the lattice used. The method is applied to content-based image retrieval (CBIR): an image signature is derived from this new adaptive nonseparable wavelet transform. The method is evaluated on four image databases and compared to a similar CBIR system, based on an adaptive separable wavelet transform. The mean precision at five of the nonseparable wavelet based system is notably higher on three out of the four databases, and comparable on the other one. The proposed method also compares favorably with the dual-tree complex wavelet transform, an overcomplete nonseparable wavelet transform.     

自适应小波变换及其在JPEG 2000中的应用

针对传统的线性小波分解不能很好保留图像边缘信息．且在跃变点处会出现大的小波系数而不利于图像压缩，提出了一种新的基于提升方案的二维不可分离自适应小波变换（AWT）方案。在该方案中，根据局部信息自适应地将图像分为平滑区域和非平滑区域．在不同区域选取不同的更新和预测函数。通过在JPEG2000中的实验结果表明，用该方法进行图像分解。低频近似图像保留了细节信息，边缘清晰；对双边AWT后的图像压缩，性能优于JPEG2000的5／3小波和9／7小波，峰值信噪比（PSNR）提高0．5～2．0dB。     

基于PCA的小波多分辨图像融合方法

提出小渡多分辨率下主成份分析（PCA）的图像融合方法。首先利用小波变换对融合图像进行多分辨率分解,然后利用主成份分析方法确定图像小波低频近似系数的洎适应融合权重,采用局部区域“能量”法进行小渡高频细节系数的融合,最后将小波融合系数逆变换实现图像的融合处理。实验结果证实融合图像的目标特征突出,易于目视解译。     

Multiresolution Image Representation Using Combined 2-D and 1-D Directional Filter Banks

In this paper, effective multiresolution image representations using a combination of 2-D filter bank (FB) and directional wavelet transform (WT) are presented. The proposed methods yield simple implementation and low computation costs compared to previous 1-D and 2-D FB combinations or adaptive directional WT methods. Furthermore, they are nonredundant transforms and realize quad-tree like multiresolution representations. In applications on nonlinear approximation, image coding, and denoising, the proposed filter banks show visual quality improvements and have higher PSNR than the conventional separable WT or the contourlet.     

一种基于小波相位滤波及视觉非线性的医学图像自适应增强新方法

针对经典方法对ＳＮＲ低的医学图像存在噪声过度放大及伪像产生问题,本文在精细尺度上,根据信号与噪声的ＷＴ相位在相继尺度上关联性的不同进行去噪,在大尺度上则采用Ｓｅｍｉｓｏｆｔ阈法对ＤＷＴ系数进行快速缩减去噪,根据人眼的视觉特性对ＷＴ系数的增益进行非线性的自适应控制,较之经典方法,本文方法具有增强图像视觉效果佳,无伪像产生的优点,且在噪声抑制、保边沿及增强各种细节上效果良好。     

基于二维不可分小波相关性分析的虹膜识别

为了更有效地提取虹膜纹理特征区域和进一步减小虹膜特征的存储空间,提出了一种基于分块相关性分析的二维不可分B-样条小波的虹膜识别方法,通过对虹膜归一化图像进行二维不可分B-样条小波变换并提取小波系数特征,把这些特征等分成正方形的特征块并按照相关性由大到小排序,保留相关性大的特征块进行匹配。实验表明,本文算法比经典的虹膜识别方法能更准确地捕捉识别效果好的特征区域。     

形态学平整运算尺度空间在图像融合中的应用

在图像的多尺度变换方法中,由高斯滤波器等线性算子构成的尺度空间,不能很好地刻画图像中的非线性特征,且具有共同的缺点:在多尺度分解过程中图像中的边缘会被模糊而较难定位,且图中物体的轮廓会被扭曲。而形态学平整运算是一种能在多尺度分解的同时保持物体边缘位置不变的形态学滤波器,由其构成的非线性尺度空间能有效克服这一缺点。本文提出了一种基于形态学平整运算的尺度空间的图像融合方法,从融合的三个步骤分别进行分析:分解时,对分解算子和标志图像的生成方法对融合的影响进行分析并从中选择最佳的方法;融合时,对不同类型图像融合,选择最适合的融合规则;重构时,引入增强因子,进一步提高图像融合效果。实验结果证明本文方法能比基于线性尺度空间的方法更好地保护图像中的非线性特征,如边缘和亮度,从而取得更好的融合质量。      

基于二代curvelet与wavelet变换的自适应图像融合

针对同一场景红外图像与可见光图像的融合问题,提出了一种基于二代curvelet与wavelet变换的自适应图像融合算法。首先对源图像进行快速离散curvelet变换,得到不同尺度与方向下的粗尺度系数和细尺度系数;根据红外图像与可见光图像的不同物理特性以及人类视觉系统特性,对不同尺度与方向下的粗尺度系数和细尺度系数采用基于离散小波变换的图像融合方法,在小波域中,对低频系数采用基于红外图像与可见光图像的不同物理特性的自适应融合规则,对高频系数采用基于邻域方向对比度与局部区域匹配度相结合的自适应融合规则,然后进行小波逆变换得到融合的curvelet系数;最后,进行快速离散curvelet逆变换得到融合图像。实验结果表明,该方法能够更加有效、准确地提取图像中的特征,是一种有效可行的图像融合算法。     

基于模糊小波的图像对比度增强算法

针对传统的图像对比度增强方法存在的诸多问题,本文提出了一种模糊小波增强算法.首先,将低对比度图像进行规范化,选定一个确定小波对规范化后的图像进行小波变换,得到小波系数.然后,模糊化低通小波系数,再采用全局和局部信息进行调整.对高通小波系数,采用非线性运算进行调整.将调整后的小波系数反变换到空域上,得到增强后的结果.最后,给出几种增强算法实验结果的比较和分析,表明该算法对低对比度图片的增强是非常有效的,并且很好的抑制了噪声,没有出现局部区域过增强或增强不足的现象.     

Enhancement of mammographic features by optimal adaptive neighborhood image processing

X-ray mammography is the only breast cancer detection technique presently available with proven efficacy. Mammographic detection of early breast cancer requires optimal radiological or image processing techniques. We present an image processing approach based on adaptive neighborhood processing with a new set of contrast enhancement functions to enhance mammographic features. This procedure brings out the features in the image with little or no enhancement of the noise. We also find that adaptive neighborhoods with surrounds whose width is a constant difference from the center yield improved enhancement over adaptive neighborhoods with a constant ratio of surround to center neighborhood widths.     

Low light image enhancement with dual-tree complex wavelet transform

In low light condition, low dynamic range of the captured image distorts the contrast and results in high noise levels. In this paper, we propose an effective contrast enhancement method based on dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) which operates on a wide range of imagery without noise amplification. In terms of enhancement, we employ a logarithmic function for global brightness enhancement based on the nonlinear response of human vision to luminance. Moreover, we enhance the local contrast by contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) in low-pass subbands to make image structure clearer. In terms of noise reduction, based on the direction selective property of DT-CWT, we perform content-based total variation (TV) diffusion which controls the smoothing degree according to noise and edges in high-pass subbands. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a good performance in low light image enhancment and outperforms state-of-the-art ones in terms of contrast enhancement and noise reduction.     

Adaptive mammographic image enhancement using first derivative andlocal statistics

This paper proposes an adaptive image enhancement method for mammographic images, which is based on the first derivative and the local statistics. The adaptive enhancement method consists of three processing steps. The first step is to remove the film artifacts which may be misread as microcalcifications. The second step is to compute the gradient images by using the first derivative operators. The third step is to enhance the important features of the mammographic image by adding the adaptively weighted gradient images. Local statistics of the image are utilized for adaptive realization of the enhancement, so that image details can be enhanced and image noises can be suppressed. The objective performances of the proposed method were compared with those by the conventional image enhancement methods for a simulated image and the seven mammographic images containing real microcalcifications. The performance of the proposed method was also evaluated by means of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis for 78 real mammographic images with and without microcalcifications     

Nonlinear multiscale wavelet diffusion for speckle suppression and edge enhancement in ultrasound images

This paper introduces a novel nonlinear multiscale wavelet diffusion method for ultrasound speckle suppression and edge enhancement. This method is designed to utilize the favorable denoising properties of two frequently used techniques: the sparsity and multiresolution properties of the wavelet, and the iterative edge enhancement feature of nonlinear diffusion. With fully exploited knowledge of speckle image models, the edges of images are detected using normalized wavelet modulus. Relying on this feature, both the envelope-detected speckle image and the log-compressed ultrasonic image can be directly processed by the algorithm without need for additional preprocessing. Speckle is suppressed by employing the iterative multiscale diffusion on the wavelet coefficients. With a tuning diffusion threshold strategy, the proposed method can improve the image quality for both visualization and auto-segmentation applications. We validate our method using synthetic speckle images and real ultrasonic images. Performance improvement over other despeckling filters is quantified in terms of noise suppression and edge preservation indices.     

小波变换在医学图像边缘提取中的应用

边缘是图像的重要特征。医学图像往往较模糊．其边缘特征难以用传统方法检测。小波变换具有良好的局部化特性、多分辨特性．及检测信号局部突变的能力。对图像进行二维小波变换，其梯度模值反映了图像的边缘。介绍一种基于小波变换的图像边缘提取方法。实验证明．与传统边缘检测方法相比，该方法去噪效果好，能提取图像中较弱的边缘，且能使边缘细化。这些特点使得他特别适合于医学图像边缘的提取。     

Chromosome image enhancement using multiscale differential operators

Chromosome banding patterns are very important features for karyotyping, based on which cytogenetic diagnosis procedures are conducted. Due to cell culture, staining, and imaging conditions, image enhancement is a desirable preprocessing step before performing chromosome classification. In this paper, we apply a family of differential wavelet transforms (Wang and Lee, 1998), (Wang, 1999) for this purpose. The proposed differential filters facilitate the extraction of multiscale geometric features of chromosome images. Moreover, desirable fast computation can be realized. We study the behavior of both banding edge pattern and noise in the wavelet transform domain. Based on the fact that image geometrical features like edges are correlated across different scales in the wavelet representation, a multiscale point-wise product (MPP) is used to characterize the correlation of the image features in the scale-space. A novel algorithm is proposed for the enhancement of banding patterns in a chromosome image. In order to compare objectively the performance of the proposed algorithm against several existing image-enhancement techniques, a quantitative criteria, the contrast improvement ratio (CIR), has been adopted to evaluate the enhancement results. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method consistently outperforms existing techniques in terms of the CIR measure, as well as in visual effect. The effect of enhancement on cytogenetic diagnosis is further investigated by classification tests conducted prior to and following the chromosome image enhancement. In comparison with conventional techniques, the proposed method leads to better classification results, thereby benefiting the subsequent cytogenetic diagnosis.     

Medical image enhancement algorithm based on wavelet transform

Low contrast and poor quality are main problems in the production of medical images. By using the wavelet transform and Haar transform, a novel image enhancement approach is proposed. First, a medical image was decomposed with wavelet transform. Secondly, all high-frequency sub-images were decomposed with Haar transform. Thirdly, noise in the frequency field was reduced by the soft-threshold method. Fourthly, high-frequency coefficients were enhanced by different weight values in different sub-images. Then, the enhanced image was obtained through the inverse wavelet transform and inverse Haar transform. Lastly, the image's histogram was stretched by nonlinear histogram equalisation. Experiments showed that this method can not only enhance an image?s details but can also preserve its edge features effectively.     

Image denoising based on wavelets and multifractals for singularity detection.

This paper presents a very efficient algorithm for image denoising based on wavelets and multifractals for singularity detection. A challenge of image denoising is how to preserve the edges of an image when reducing noise. By modeling the intensity surface of a noisy image as statistically self-similar multifractal processes and taking advantage of the multiresolution analysis with wavelet transform to exploit the local statistical self-similarity at different scales, the pointwise singularity strength value characterizing the local singularity at each scale was calculated. By thresholding the singularity strength, wavelet coefficients at each scale were classified into two categories: the edge-related and regular wavelet coefficients and the irregular coefficients. The irregular coefficients were denoised using an approximate minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) estimation method, while the edge-related and regular wavelet coefficients were smoothed using the fuzzy weighted mean (FWM) filter aiming at preserving the edges and details when reducing noise. Furthermore, to make the FWM-based filtering more efficient for noise reduction at the lowest decomposition level, the MMSE-based filtering was performed as the first pass of denoising followed by performing the FWM-based filtering. Experimental results demonstrated that this algorithm could achieve both good visual quality and high PSNR for the denoised images.